You see, I may have said some less than kind things about the G.I Blues and Blue Hawaii. I believe I was kinder with Girl! Girls! Girls! and It Happened At The Worlds’s Fair. But Tickle Me? I was pretty harsh with that one.

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So imagine my surprise when Spinout turns out to be not only good, but rockets into my EPM Top Five! It seems like you took your foot off the campiness pedal* and shifted** the angry Elvis down a bit, but kept the charm and silliness and good natured fun. Even the goofy things like a dog showing up for no reason, and Elvis saying “He’s just a hound dog” worked.

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Elvis’s character, Mike McCoy is great. I like how he’s a race car driver AND a lead singer in a band***. Why not, right? 

 

Good work getting Deborah “Gidget” Walley as the drummer, Les. And bringing back Jimmy Hawkins from the Girl Happy band was inspired. I especially liked Jack Mullaney, who was a bit much as the nerd in Tickle Me. You used his talents to much better effect in Spinout.

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It was also a stroke of genius to get Shelley Fabares from Girl Happy back. No other Elvis movie love interest has had the kind of chemistry that she had, except for Ann Marget. And we all know what was going on there. Wink, wink. 

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Having the second love interest, Diana St. Claire, be a writer working on a book about the Perfect America Male was good. Having her be kind of a stalker, well, that was a bit creepy. You made the save by having Les, the drummer, working behind the scenes to undermine both of the other suitors. Her not-so-quiet pining for Mike while he and the other members of the band constantly forgot that she was a girl was some good stuff.

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I was even able to suspend disbelief when Mike and the band leave a gig in Mike’s 1930s Duesenberg, which is towing his Cobra sports car, after turning down a gig for $5000 (because Mike can’t be bought,) and then they go to a campground to make a gourmet meal over a portable cookstove and sleep in individual pop up tents that look like little mushrooms.

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And you know why? Because the music is so darn good. Nine pop gems on this soundtrack****. You put “Spinout,” “Stop, Look And Listen,” and “Adam And Evil” in the first 10 minutes of the movie! C’mon, man, that’s more good songs than Tickle Me and Harum Scarum combined. I always considered the Girl Happy soundtrack to be the best soundtrack, but I have to say that Spinout is right up there with it. One question- “Beach Shack” is a good song but it’s kind of weird that Mike sings it at a pool and not at, you know, a beach. Was it left over from Paradise, Hawaiian Style?

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Whatever, it doesn’t matter. It all ends up with a really good race sequence that has suspense and comedy and a lot of beautiful cars. 

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And the way you resolved the fact that confirmed bachelor-for-life Mike McCoy had not one, not two, but three women that all wanted to marry him by having him… Well, I don’t have to tell you. You made the movie.

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Anyway, I hope there are no hard feelings, and I look forward to Double Trouble, Speedway, and Live A Little, Love A Little.

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Your newest fan, Eric Bianchi

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ACTING: 8 Elvises

MUSICAL PERFORMANCES: 10 Elvises

BEST SONG: “Spinout” especially the great movie arrangement.

STUNTS: Simulated driving, No Fight!

CRINGE FACTOR: Maybe band name?

KISSIN’: A good amount.

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*That’s a racing movie metaphor, Norm. I thought you’d like that.

**Again with the metaphor…

***The band’s name is groovy- “1 Plus 2 + 1/2.” Although if I’m doing the math right, Mike is the 1 and the two guys in the band, Larry and Curly, are the “Plus 2” and that makes the female drummer the “+1/2.” That stuff was fine in 1966, but in 2020, not so much.

****Not that you’d care, but me and my friends have a band that plays nothing but Elvis movie songs, and we actually do four songs from Spinout. I do “Never Say Yes.” Steve “Lucky” Marshall does “Spinout.” And Greg “Pacer” Baxter does both “Stop, Look And Listen,” and “Adam And Evil.” I’m putting in notice now that one of my next picks is going to be “Smorgasbord.”

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Ethan’s Note: I was supposed to be doing Spanish homework when I was called down to watch this movie and for once I didn’t regret that. This was honestly a pretty solid movie. The music was very good and the plot had a very Partridge Family vibe to it that was somehow welcome after Paradise, Hawaiian Style. The resolution to the three girl scenario is hilariously awesome as is Taurog’s decision to put church bell music every time Bachelor Elvis is about to kiss a girl, and the race scene doesn’t involve multiple casualties for once. I was somewhat confused as to whether Elvis is famous or not because he both drives a Duesenburg and is poor, is referred to as local and famous, it’s confusing. However, Elvis rocks an awesome style of suits where he wears sports coats over vests over unbuttoned shirts over turtleneck sweaters.... it’s something you have to see for yourself and just say “It was ‘66” and while there’s a catchphrase in this movie, it’s not as bad as P:HS’s “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”. Finally, there’s a reference to “Shorty” during the race scene furthering my beliefs that this movie is a prequel to Viva Las Vegas and exists in a greater ElvisVerse (carrying as much prestige as the MCU or TarantinoVerse). 3/3 potential suitors.